Hello, Suns? Sonics Want Title

The Seattle SuperSonics have sent the Phoenix Suns a message: they want to reclaim the Pacific Division title.

Hersey Hawkins scored eight of his 35 points in overtime as Seattle beat Phoenix 123-112 Saturday night for their fifth straight win and 11th in the last 13 games.

It was the first meeting of the season between the division-leading Sonics, who won the Pacific two years ago, and the defending champion Suns.

“I like our team. I have more confidence in this team than last year’s team,” said Seattle coach George Karl. “This is a team that likes to play and we enjoy going to work.

“Guys like Hawkins, I can’t say enough about him. He made some big shots for us all night long. His play was huge.”

Gary Payton finished with 24 points and 10 assists while Shawn Kemp had 17 points for the Sonics, who won for the 20th time in their 28 games this season.

Charles Barkley paced the Suns with 30 points but made only 11 of his 27 shots from the field. He was ejected with 1:02 left in overtime after getting his second technical foul.

Elliot Perry had 25 points and Wesley Person 24 - including five 3-point goals in eight tries - but Phoenix was just 12 of 30 from behind the arc and saw its two-game winning streak stopped.

“We couldn’t stop Hawkins, especially in overtime,” Suns coach Paul Westphal said. “Those two threepoint plays of his were just killers and it overshadowed a great performance by us.”

Phoenix, down 90-80 with 10:12 remaining in regulation, took a 105-103 lead on Perry’s two free throws with 34.6 seconds left.

Kemp forced overtime by making both his foul shots with 27.6 seconds remaining.

Hawkins hit a 3-point goal with 1:49 left in overtime and added a three-point play 33 seconds later for a 115-107 lead.

The Suns missed nine of their 12 field goals in the extra period.

“We just can’t get a break,” Barkley said. “We’ve lost three heartbreakers now in the last couple weeks. We’re blowing out the bad teams, but struggling against the good teams.”

Phoenix is 9-7 at home this season compared to 14-0 at this time last year. The Suns haven’t lost more than nine homes games since they went 22-19 in 1987-88, and have averaged 34 wins here in the seven seasons since then.

It was Seattle’s first win here in its last five tries and just the Sonics’ 16th victory overall in 76 trips to Phoenix.

Hawkins had nine points in the third period and Payton added six as Seattle took an 84-78 lead into the final quarter.

Barkley had 10 points in a 3:17 span, and his free throws with 1:27 left gave Phoenix a 101-100 lead, its first since midway through the first quarter.

But Hawkins hit a 3-point goal - his fourth of the game - with 1:11 left before Perry sank a baseline jumper with 50 seconds showing and his two free throws 16 seconds later for the Suns’ brief lead.

After Kemp tied the score at 105, Barkley missed a 15-foot jumper with 8 seconds remaining in regulation and both Payton and Hawkins missed shots before the buzzer.

Barkley was off the mark on a 3-point try and a baseline jumper in the first 2 minutes of overtime and the Sonics went ahead to stay at 109-105 on Payton’s layin and Sam Perkins’ jumper from the corner.

SuperSonics 123, Suns 112 (OT)

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts McMillan 35 1-2 4-4 0-7 5 5 7 Kemp 32 6-8 5-8 0-6 1 5 17 Perkins 33 4-10 0-0 0-1 1 1 9 Hawkins 43 13-19 5-5 3-10 4 1 35 Payton 46 9-16 5-8 3-6 10 3 24 Askew 28 6-8 2-2 1-1 4 3 14 Brickowski 23 4-9 4-7 2-7 3 4 13 Wingate 8 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 E.Johnson 17 1-1 0-0 1-3 0 2 2 Totals 265 45-74 25-34 10-41 29 25 123

Percentages: FG .608, FT .735.

3-Point Goals: 8-13, .615 (Hawkins 4-5, Brickowski 1-1, McMillan 1-2, Perkins 1-4).

Team Rebounds: 8

Blocked shots: 4 (Kemp 2, Perkins, Wingate)

Turnovers: 16 (Kemp 6, McMillan 3, Payton 3, Johnson 2, Brickowski, Askew)

Steals: 10 (McMillan 3, Perkins 3, Hawkins, Payton, Brickowski, Johnson)

Technical fouls: McMillan, 9:33 first; Illegal defense, 4:29 second; Illegal defense, 11:21 third; Payton, 1:02 overtime.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb PHOENIX Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Green 34 3-6 1-2 4-9 2 3 8 Barkley 50 11-27 7-8 7-14 5 2 30 Williams 40 4-10 2-4 4-8 1 5 10 Finley 34 2-6 1-2 0-0 2 3 7 Perry 45 10-20 3-5 1-2 10 2 25 Tisdale 13 2-2 1-2 0-3 0 3 5 Person 37 8-14 3-3 1-3 1 5 24 Smith 12 1-6 0-2 0-0 4 1 3 Totals 265 41-91 18-28 17-39 25 24 112

Percentages: FG .451, FT .543.

3-Point Goals: 12-30, .400 (Person 5-8, Perry 2-4, Finley 2-4, Green 1-3, Smith 1-5, Barkley 1-6).

Team Rebounds: 10

Blocked shots: 5 (Barkley 2, Green, Williams, Finley)

Turnovers: 12 (Barkley 5, Perry 3, Smith 2, Person, Finley)

Steals: 5 (Person 2, Perry, Williams, Barkley)

Technical fouls: Barkley 5:57 second; Illegal defense 1:25 third; Barkley, 1:02 overtime.

Ejections: Barkley.

Illegal defense: 1. Seattle 34 24 26 21 18 - 123 Phoenix 23 28 27 27 7 - 112

A-19,023 (19,023). T-2:23.

Officials-David Jones, Dan Crawford, Sean Corbin.